provision before in the directions by the Board of Revenue of the 30th July 1790; it was afterwards rescinded by the Regulations of the 20th July 1792, Regulation VIII of 1793, s. 67, cl. 3, and Regulation XVII of 1793:-(15) the landholders are still to be responsible for the peace of their districts as heretofore,' but they are not to take cognizance of causes coming within the jurisdiction of the Courts of Dewanny or Foujdarry Adawlut. The remaining restrictions are those set forth in the prescribed cabooleuts.

LECTURE
VIII.

After the conclusion of the settlement the landholders The landholders. are to be at liberty to borrow money on the credit of their lands, and also to sell and otherwise dispose of their lands under certain restrictions to be thereafter established. The Regulations then provide that their spirit shall be followed when their terms are not strictly applicable to the circumstances of any district;5 and conclude with directing that, if the settlement cannot be concluded during the current year, it should be for one year only. Special orders are added for the various districts. Among those relating to Bengal are the following:(1) hustaboods and measurements are prohibited:o (2) any occasional diminution of jumma is to be restored by a russud or progressive increase extending over not more than three years:9 (3) the landholders are intended to pay the expenses

LECTURE

VIII.

Remedies for recovery of

rent.

incidental to the receipt of rents, but not to the collection of the revenue: (4) separate allowances to the landholders' families are to cease: (5) any existing zemindary charges which may be continued are to be paid by the Collectors:* in fixing the jumma that of the preceding year is to be the basis; but when this rule is inapplicable, the landholder is to have a share equal to ten per cent. of the produce, including the produce of his nankar and other private lands. This, however, is not to apply to lands paying revenue direct to Government which have been held at a fixed jumma for twelve years: such jumma is to be continued, subject to deduction for the sayer."

The above Regulations show the principles of the Decennial Settlement, the effect of which upon the proprietary rights in the land will be referred to hereafter. They were supplemented by further Regulations giving the landholders and farmers power to distrain and sell the personal property of the under-farmers, ryots, and dependent talookdars, instead of imprisoning them. These Regulations were passed on the 20th July 1792. They recite that in consequence of the existing Regulations not defining the nature and extent of the coercion which landholders and farmers of land may legally exercise over their under-farmers, ryots, and dependent talookdars to enforce payment of arrears of rent or revenue, many landholders and farmers, availing themselves of former usage, have recourse to most oppressive

Art. 5. 2 Art. 6.

3 Art. 7.

Art. 1.

s Art. 8.

• Art. 9.

7 Colebrooke's Supplement, 335.

means for realising arrears, and often use the same severities
for
purposes of extortion; whilst others, being in doubt, are
deterred from using any compulsion, and consequently are
defrauded of the arrears due. To remedy these evils without
recourse to law is the object of the Regulations; which
provide that zemindars, independent talookdars, and other
actual proprietors of land, and farmers of land who hold their
farms immediately of Government, are empowered without
sending notice to the Collector, to distrain "the crops
and products of the earth of every description, the grain,
cattle, and all other personal property belonging to their
under-renters and ryots, and the talookdars paying revenue
through them, for arrears of rent or revenue, and to cause the
same to be sold for the discharge of such arrears." The same
powers are vested in the dependent talookdars with respect
to their under-farmers and ryots; and in under-farmers,
holding from actual proprietors or dependent talookdars or
from Government direct, to enable them to recover arrears of
rent from their ryots, under-farmers, or dependent talook-
dars. Provision is made for the exemption of weavers and
others employed in respect of the Company's investments,
and of the tools of tradesmen and labourers. Ploughs and
implements of husbandry, cattle actually trained to the
plough, and seed grain are exempt if any other property is
available. Default shall not be considered to have been
committed until after demand both from the person liable
and his security, if forthcoming. Severe penalties are
prescribed for unlawful and oppressive distraint. On the
other hand, resistance by the defaulter is to be punished

LECTURE
VIII.

LECTURE
VIII.

The Permanent
Settlement.

Introduction of a general code of law.

with imprisonment.' And with respect to imprisonment for arrears it is provided that any landholder or farmer who shall confine any ryot, &c., or inflict corporal punishment for arrears, shall lose the arrears, and be liable to prosecution for assault or false imprisonment. These Regulations first established the process of distress and sale as the primary mode of recovering arrears: hitherto the method usually resorted to had been imprisonment of the defaulter.

The Decennial Settlement was completed or in progress in the greater part of Bengal before August 1791. The Permanent or Perpetual Settlement confirmed the Decennial Settlement in perpetuity. I have already quoted the orders of the Court of Directors, contained in their letter of the 19th September 1792, approving of this step, and the proclamation of the permanency of the settlement was made on the 22nd March 1793. One of the results of this settlement was a present increase of revenue to a larger amount than had been expected.*

The proclamation which announced the permanency of the settlement was afterwards embodied in Regulation I of 1793, and as part of the legislation which consolidated the Perpetual Settlement I shall refer to it. It will be observed that up to 1793 no general code of law had been enacted for India. We have seen that rules and orders were passed from time to time, but no systematic code was framed." In 1793, however, the present Bengal Regulations were

Art. 18. 2 Art. 27.

'Harington's Analysis, Vol. II, 258.

• Ib.

Ib., Vol. I, 1.

commenced by forty-eight Regulations all passed on the same day. Amongst these was one containing some rules for the construction of Regulations. This Regulation (XLI of 1793) provides, in conformity with English maxims, (1) that one part of a Regulation is to be construed by another, so that the whole may stand; (2) that if a Regulation differs from a former Regulation the new Regulation virtually repeals the old one as far as such difference extends, provided the new Regulation is couched in negative terms, or by its matter necessarily implies a negative;' and (3) that the rescission of a Regulation which rescinds another revives the original Regulation.3

LECTURE
VIII.

of the Perma

ment.

Regulation I of 1793 consists of the proclamation of Lord Proclamation Cornwallis of the 22nd March 1793, and is made law from nent Settlethat date. That proclamation is addressed to the "zemindars, independent talookdars, and other actual proprietors of land paying revenue to Government in the provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa." It recites that in the original Regulations for the Decennial Settlement it was notified to the proprietors of land, with or on behalf of whom a settlement might be concluded, that the jumma would remain fixed for ever after the expiration of the term of ten years if the Directors approved. The Governor-General in Council then notifies to "all zemindars, independent talookdars, and other actual proprietors of land paying revenue to Government" that he has been authorized by the Directors to declare the jumma which has been or may be assessed upon their lands under the Decennial Settlement fixed for ever,5 and declares accordingly that "they and their heirs